Saturday, January 29, 2011

India Tourist Sport





It might come naturally to you to pass Kochi (or Cochin), as the Kerala Capital. No wonder, for this gorgeous beach-town is not just the most beautiful Kerala-cosmopolitan, but with its brimming coastline, enamoring backwaters, ayurvedic health centers, churches and synagogues --- rightfully positioned amongst National Geographic’s 50 top tourist destinations. Watch Kathakali performance, savor its seafood, dig at the antiques, try fishing with the Chinese fishing nets or attend a traditional marriage ceremony. Kochi is one place you will instantly fall in ‘like’ with!



Tale of the City
Kochi was the favorite seaside entry into India from the Arabian Sea for the Arabs, Chinese, European sea merchants and finally the Portuguese under Vasco da Gama in 1500, and the Franciscan friars. And what had been a quaint fishing hamlet became India's first European settlement. In 1663, Cochin fell to the Dutch, and then to the British in 1795. Each of these foreign influences left their impressions, resulting in a distinctly Indo-European culture, most evident in the architecture and lifestyle of Kochinites.
Chinese Fishing Nets



Attractions
Fort Cochin : A quiet landmark to this port-city, the Fort Cochin, comprising Mattancherry and Jew Town (that hosts a 1st century AD Jewish community), is a slice of sepia-tinted world, where they still speak 14 different languages and tumbled-down mansions line narrow lanes. Near the water's edge, old warehouses (or godowns) are filled with the state's treasured cash crops -- pepper, tea, Ayurvedic herbs, whole ginger, and betel nuts -- being dried, sorted, and prepared for direct sale or auction. Walk around at leisure and chances are you will discover something (curio/ architecture) belonging to a world you never thought existed.

Cherai Beach & Vypeen : Bordering one another, this is where the city-chafed locals arrive for a replenishing weekend. The beaches are beautiful; there is an old lighthouse and a 16th century fort. Get there by ferry from Fort Kochi. A typical Kerala village with paddy fields and coconut groves nearby add to the scenic beauty.



St. Francis Church : The oldest European church in India, it went through a myriad associations beginning from the Franciscan friars, Dutch Protestants, to Anglicans, and now this church finally belongs to the Church of South India. Something to keep in mind is, like Hindu temples and mosques, here too you are required to take off



Bolghatty Palace : Situated at the Bolghatty island and accessed by a ferry, is this once British mansion has a postcard golf-course and beautiful honeymoon cottages. Good news is KTDC has taken it up and made it into a heritage hotel.
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Mattancherry Palace :Adorned with fine murals from the Ramayana, Mahabharata and some of the Puranic Hindu legends, this double-story palace is an architectural wonder. The Dutch maps of old Kochi along with palanquins and coronation robes of the former maharajas of Kochi are attractions you have to hunt out in here.




Jewish Synagogue : Here is the oldest (17th century) synagogue in the Commonwealth with some amazing hand-painted willow pattern floor tiles brought all the way from China. The Clock Tower, Hebrew inscriptions on stone slabs and ancient scripts on copper plates, along with other ancient artefacts are of tourist interest over there. (Open daily: 10am-12 pm & 3pm-5pm; Sat closed). The area surrounding is an antique-lovers paradise with a myriad curio shops, spices, furniture, artifacts, rare glass and beads, all centuries old.



Parishath Thampuran Museum : This hosts the genesis of Kerala in the form of oil paintings, murals, sculptures in stone and plaster of Paris, manuscripts and coins belonging to the Kochi royal family - all preserved in its complex of 49 buildings, in itself a fine example of Kerala architecture. The area encompassing it has a Deer Park and facilities for horse riding. (Open daily: 9 am-12:30 pm & 2 pm-4:30 pm; Monday closed)



Santhanagopala-Krishnaswamy Temple : About 8 km away from Ernakulam, this museum temple showcases history from the Neolithic Age to the modern era through intriguing life-size figures. One can also catch the sound and light shows, which have commentaries in English and Malayalam.

Find sometime to explore : Pazhassiraja Museum and Art Gallery, Willingdon Island, Kaladi, Vasco da Gama Square, Pierce Leslie Bungalow, Old Harbour House, Koder House, Delta Study, Loafer's Corner, Princess Street, Vasco House, VOC Gate, United Club, Bishop's House, ruins of Fort Immanuel, the Portuguese settlement.
St. Francis Church



Shopping
Your Kochi shopping spree must-have's are camel bone and wood carvings, various metal-ware, coconut shell decorations, cane crafts, embroidered pine mats and so on. Buy one piece each of the indigeneous handicrafts, that is. M.G. Road is where the shopaholics crowd at its various shops, emporiums and private showrooms. There's the huge GCDA shopping complex on Marine Drive, which should be explored at leisure. Antique shopping is another Kochi specialty and items to hunt for are rosewood artifacts, coir floor coverings and tablemats, old dowry boxes from Travancore, gold jewelery exclusive to the South, cotton saris, traditional khadi attire and antiques from Jewtown.




Cuisine
Kochi restaurants cater to both local and international tongues with cuisines ranging from Kerala cuisine to Chinese selections, American hamburgers, Italian spaghetti and so on. A permanent flavor you should expect in all traditional cuisine is that of coconut oil. The best food-joint are flaked around the at Fort Cochin and Willingdon area. Fresh seafood is an obvious favorite. And Kochi’s favorite palate will have rice, fish and coconut (in some form). Some restaurants you can trust for its quality of food and delight are Pandhal at M G Road (South Indian food), Bimbi’s at Jose Junction (low-priced Indian & Continental cuisine), Fry’s Village Restaurant at Chitoor Road, North End (spicy south Indian specialities like patthri, a Calicut-Muslim delicacy).
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Snippets
Black Gold: In Kerala, pepper is referred to as karuthu ponnu, or "black gold," and represents the state’s international spice trade backbone. Consider a visit to the ginger, black pepper, betel nut, and Ayurvedic medicine warehouses, so very reminiscent of Salman Rushdie's The Moor's Last Sigh; or head for the Kochi International Pepper Exchange (Jew Town Rd., Mattancherry) to see Kerala's black gold being furiously sold off to the highest bidder.

Some Original names & Changed ones of Kerala’s cities: Trivandrum ?Thiruvananathapuram; Quilon ? Kollam; Alleppey ? Alappuzha; Trichur ? Thrissur; Palghat ? Palakkad; Cannanore ? Kanoor; Calicut ? Kozhikode; Cochin ? Kochi.


Getaways
Alwaye(21 Km):Banking the river Periyar, is this famous Shalvaite pilgrim center and a summer resort.

Malayatoor (47 km): Go there for the St Thomas Catholic Church on the 609 m high Malayatoor hill, specially if your trip coincides the annual Malayatoor Perunnal Festival (March-April).

Alleppey/Alappuzha (64 Km): This is the core tourist center for backwater cruises in Kerala and has often been referred to as the Venice of the East. If you are here in August, do not miss the Nehru Trophy boat race held here on the second Saturday.

Thrissur (80 Km): Former capital of Cochin, Thrissur is famous for the Vadakkumnatha Temple and is the venue of the annual Pooram Festival held in April/May. Buy some of its wood carvings and temple-arts are souvenirs.
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Kumarakom (80 Km): Famed for its backwaters and the quaint village surrounded by paddy fields and the Vembanand lake.

Cheruthuruthi (100 Km): Go there if you are an art connoisseur to witness Kerala’s training center for art forms such as Kathakali, Mohinlattam, etc. The center is called Kalamandam.

Wynad: Located on the foothill borders of the state adjacent to both Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, is Wynad, famous for its temples, the Wynad Wildlife Sanctuary and its Lakkdi area known for its scenic beauty.
Lakshadweep Islands

Lakshadweep Islands (300 km away in Arabian Sea): An archipelago of 12 atolls, 3 reefs, 5 submerged banks and 36 islands in the Arabian Sea forms a favorite getaway from Kerala. Only six of the 36 islands are inhabited and open for tourists - Androt, Amini, Bitra, Chetlat, Kadamat, Kalpeni, Kavaratti and Minicoy. They are the only coral reef island in India and rich in flora and fauna. Just the place for adventure enthusiasts who love snorkeling and other Watersports, Fishing etc.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

SEO is an acronym for "search engine optimization" or "search engine optimizer." Deciding to hire an SEO is a big decision that can potentially improve your site and save time, but you can also risk damage to your site and reputation. Make sure to research the potential advantages as well as the damage that an irresponsible SEO can do to your site. Many SEOs and other agencies and consultants provide useful services for website owners, including:


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* Expertise in specific markets and geographies.

Keep in mind that the Google search results page includes organic search results and often paid advertisement (denoted by the heading "Sponsored Links") as well. Advertising with Google won't have any effect on your site's presence in our search results. Google never accepts money to include or rank sites in our search results, and it costs nothing to appear in our organic search results. Free resources such as Webmaster Tools, the official Webmaster Central blog, and our discussion forum can provide you with a great deal of information about how to optimize your site for organic search. Many of these free sources, as well as information on paid search, can be found on Google Webmaster Central.



Before beginning your search for an SEO, it's a great idea to become an educated consumer and get familiar with how search engines work. We recommend starting here:

* Google Webmaster Guidelines
* Google 101: How Google crawls, indexes and serves the web.

If you're thinking about hiring an SEO, the earlier the better. A great time to hire is when you're considering a site redesign, or planning to launch a new site. That way, you and your SEO can ensure that your site is designed to be search engine-friendly from the bottom up. However, a good SEO can also help improve an existing site.

Some useful questions to ask an SEO include:


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While SEOs can provide clients with valuable services, some unethical SEOs have given the industry a black eye through their overly aggressive marketing efforts and their attempts to manipulate search engine results in unfair ways. Practices that violate our guidelines may result in a negative adjustment of your site's presence in Google, or even the removal of your site from our index. Here are some things to consider:

Friday, January 21, 2011

SEO Link Building

Everyone need to understand the importance of SEO, in order to get more number of visitors and good traffic to your website. We know that there are two types of SEO techniques, off-page and on-page.

On-page optimization is used to make the search engines like yahoo, google, bing to crawl through your website. It can be done by optimizing the contents like title, meta tags, images, links in your website. The major factor of off-page optimization is link building.

Link building is an effective strategy of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and it can be done by building links to a website. Link building with quality backlinks is the important factor considered by the search engines, while determining Page rank. Each link to your web site from another web site (i.e., backlink) is considered a “vote” to your site’s popularity. These votes can increase the importance of your web site from the search engine’s prospective.

Link building requires content to be posted along with the backlink. This content can affect the value of the backlink. If the content is relevant with the keywords in the backlink and the subject of the page contained in the backlink, it will increase the value of the backlink. Therefore, you must choose a keyword to link your website.

Friday, January 7, 2011

Interior Design Ideas

Need inspiration for decorating your home & garden?

At Look4Design you can easily navigate to view a wide variety of exhibitors in the area of home and interior design.

The products are shown using a unique technology which makes them easy to view.

There is a careful selection process of the companies which participate in this exhibition.
The exhibitors must comply with the highest quality design standards.

decorating a bed room, keep in thoughts that the finish outcome should produce a disitnct and memorable impression. Colors, space and decorations all set a bedroom's mood, and when put collectively nicely, can create a definite, pleasurable look.

With regards to the arrangement of items inside a bed room, symmetry is the most significant factor. The bed room is your personal space and should not be cluttered with too numerous objects making a claustrophobic impact. For a space to seem personal, special touches ought to be additional that reflect your special loves and interests. This includes your preferred colors, books, photographs, etc. Make certain colors are balanced in subtle shades reflecting your lifestyle and interests. The older generation appears to choose much more subdued shades than the younger generation, who opt for vibrant, textured colors. To maintain stability, the colour of a chair placed at 1 finish from the space could be repeated on throw, pillows or carpet.

Furnishings in the bed room is of utmost importance. Do not over do it with too numerous pieces making your bed room look overdressed and cluttered. The size from the bed ought to be in proportion to the size from the bed room. What issues the most is comfort. Therefore, a bed should offer high quality, comfort and a feeling of elegance. Nightstands or side tables ought to be on both side from the bed for books, medications and telephone. A dressing table comes in useful for women, and dressers with a lot of storage space are perfect. Ample closet space is essential, as are mirrors and wall decor. Mirrors assist to provide a space a larger look as well as assist to reflect light. Lighting ought to be gentle and soothing. Valence lighting is perfect for bedrooms, and colored lights could be used for additional effects. Delicate light provides a romantic feeling to the space, and targeted light is great for detail work like reading with out disturbing somebody sleeping in the space.